Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:

1. As expected, Cornell’s Jeff Teat went No. 1 overall to the New York Riptide in the National Lacrosse League draft on Thursday night while Penn State’s Mac O’Keefe was the first American off the board. O’Keefe went 15^th overall to the San Diego Seals, but like many of the top picks, still has another year of collegiate eligibility left and is not expected to be a factor this season for the Seals.

 With the first overall pick in the 2020 #NLLDraft, the @NewYorkRiptide select Jeff Teat. pic.twitter.com/UH1r04VECg

— NLL (@NLL) September 18, 2020

2. Angie Benson laughed when John Sung initially called her to come play lacrosse at Virginia Tech. Now, after sitting out for two years after beginning her career at Towson, she’s thriving with the Hokies while finding her voice to speak out against injustice. She’s the latest player featured in our partnership with Blaxers Blog.

3. Major League Lacrosse’s four black players, representing the newly-named Black Players Coalition, and the league each released statements on Thursday following a recent meeting held “to advance the dialogue of social justice and achieve measurable change in race relations within our league and the country.”

4. Imagine being good enough to reach the pinnacle of your sport. How about doing it four times? A look at the rare four-time U.S. senior team selections — Hall of Famers John DeTommaso, Danielle Gallagher, Cherie Greer Brown, Vinnie Sombrotto and Jess Wilk.

In a class of their own 

These five National Lacrosse Hall of Famers — John DeTommaso, Danielle Gallagher, Cherie Greer Brown, Jess Wilk and Vinnie Sombrotto — earned the coveted distinction of making four U.S. national teams.

READ MORE: https://t.co/7MUYnvOmie pic.twitter.com/16g7PEwt7E

— US Lacrosse (@USLacrosse) September 17, 2020

5. The 2020 season didn’t start off the way Maryland is accustomed to, but a fresh start and a longtime track record have us putting the Terps at No. 7 in the Nike/US Lacrosse way early women’s Division I rankings for 2021.

6. A pair of Yale transfers will bolster Denver’s already strong offense. The Pioneers check in at No. 6 in the Nike/US Lacrosse way-early men’s Division I rankings.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• UMass men’s lacrosse player Ryan Fitzpatrick, an honorable mention freshman All-American by College Crosse last year, is headed to Israel for the Masa Gap Year Program. The longstick midfielder will help develop the sport in Israel and receives prioritized evaluation to play for Team Israel at the 2021 European championships in Poland.

• The latest PLL “10-Man Ride” includes a look at the All-Film team and a nod to our “5-and-5” with Redwoods attackman Ryder Garnsey.

• Bobby Horsey played in the early days of Major League Lacrosse and came back to the league this season as an assistant coach. The two-time league champion reflects on his career and position.

• The “US Lacrosse Athlete Mindset Series,” an eight-week webinar series geared towards giving lacrosse players actionable items to improve their performance, will launch on Sept. 24. The discussions will be led by Arman Taghizadeh, M.D., (Dr. T), founder of the Mindset Training Institute.

• Drexel men’s lacrosse shared a link to a memorial page for former player Nathan Cole who died earlier this month.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

The Premier Lacrosse League dropped a “mini movie” to highlight Whipsnakes back-to-back league championships.

PREMIERING NOW ON YOUTUBE!

"Back to Back" — The Championship Mini-Movie

Head HERE: https://t.co/p7RUme2fJD pic.twitter.com/bYv97N4ICd

— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) September 17, 2020

WHAT’S ON TAP

• We close out our look at way-early Nike/US Lacrosse rankings for Division I with the top five in men’s and women’s lacrosse.

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